French Armed Forces

Force in Play

Deploying defensive assets across Mediterranean and Gulf while providing basing to US support aircraft

For six days, the United States and Israel have been bombing Iran under operations codenamed Epic Fury and Roaring Lion. Iran has struck back not just at Israel but at American bases scattered across the Persian Gulf — and in doing so, put French troops, British runways, and Turkish airspace in the crossfire. Now France has become the first major NATO ally to open its own military infrastructure to the American war effort, authorizing United States support aircraft to use the Istres air base in southern France, with the explicit condition that these planes stay out of offensive strikes on Iran.

Updated Mar 5